SAVE CONCRETE

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21200, 24 August 1940, Page 19 (Supplement)

SAVE CONCRETE

TREAT WITH SILICATE Concrete is very often affected by acids in food of various kinds, and farmers are disappointed with the early break-up of floors and troughs, which have been pitted, and broken up soon after their construction. This premature break-up can be delayed by the use of a special type of silicate of soda which, when mixed with water and sprinkled on the surface of the concrete, becomes absorbed and combines in forming a tough coating, which is impervious to water and acids under ordinary farm conditions. Mix one gallon of the special silicate of soda thoroughly in four gallons of water. There ! will be sufficient of the solution for I three applications to an area of i 300 square feet of average concrete, I but if the concrete is very dry and | porous a fourth application would be i necessary. j In making new floors, do not finish olr too smoothly because stock will be liable to slip when it gets wet. When the concrete is firm and nearly dry. apply the silicate solution from a spray pump or a watering can with a fine rose, do not flood the area, but give just as much as can be absorbed, make fresh applications (up to three) as the concrete dries out.